It was just another day for Warren Zink at the driving range on Williams Road in Estero. The instructor was walking down the line of golfers hitting balls when he came across a 5-year-old girl.

The girl's parents were watching her, and something struck Zink when he saw her swing.

Talia Rodino, a freshman golfer at Bishop Verot in Fort Myers practices at Stoneybrook Golf Club in Estero on Wednesday. She is heading to Augusta National Golf Club, site of the Masters, to compete in the Drive, Chip and Putt Finals on Sunday.(Photo: Andrew West, The News-Press USA Today Network-Florida)

"I kept watching her right leg," Zink said. "Her right heel was just all the way through the ball. She had a perfect follow-through. I said to myself 'This girl is just a natural.'

"I'll never forget the first day."

Talia Rodino, a freshman golfer at Bishop Verot in Fort Myers practices at Stoneybrook Golf Club in Estero on Wednesday. She is heading to Augusta National Golf Club, site of the Masters, to compete in the Drive, Chip and Putt Finals on Sunday.(Photo: Andrew West, The News-Press USA Today Network-Florida)

Talia Rodino is 15 now, and has provided Zink and others with quite a few memories. The newest will be Sunday, when Rodino plays in the Drive, Chip and Putt Finals at Augusta National Golf Club leading into Masters week. The Golf Channel telecast starts at 8 a.m.

"I'm looking forward to just being able to take in the whole experience of being on Augusta National, getting to hit shots there," said Rodino, who gets to go to Monday's practice round, among other treats. "People wish that they could do what I'm doing, and it's crazy that I get to do it at such a young age.

"It would obviously be great to win, but I've already won just by being able to go there. I'm just going to take in the experience and have a fun time. I want to come out of it saying that was the best thing I've ever done, and just enjoy it."

Rodino nearly didn't make it in what was her last shot at qualifying for the finals. In the regional at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach way back in September, the Bishop Verot High School freshman had finished her driving and chipping, and was down to three putts. And she didn't know it, but she was also down to her last chance.

Talia Rodino, a freshman golfer at Bishop Verot in Fort Myers practices at Stoneybrook Golf Club in Estero on Wednesday. She is heading to Augusta National Golf Club, site of the Masters, to compete in the Drive, Chip and Putt Finals on Sunday.(Photo: Andrew West, The News-Press USA Today Network-Florida)

Peter and Deanna, her father and mother, knew that Rodino needed to make at least one of the putts to win the 14-15 division's only qualifying spot for Augusta. She missed her 6-footer. Her 15-footer was close.

That left 30 feet between Rodino and her last chance at Augusta; she'll be too old next year. It turned out Rodino could have tied if her ball stopped no more than a foot away. But her ball went all 30 feet.

Her parents screamed loudly as the ball went into the cup. Rodino was happy it went in, but was puzzled at first by the degree of their cheers.

"I walked off the green and it was like I just made it," she said, referring to the putt. "My mom's like 'You won.' ... It felt great."

Rodino worked to prepare with coaches Andy Scott and Tom Speicher, and was trying to find the fastest greens possible to simulate Augusta National's lightning-quick ones. It all comes down to just two drives, two chips and two putts Sunday.

"There's only six shots — only six shots," said Rodino, who has her parents, Verot golf coach and Stoneybrook pro Jeff Nixon, Stoneybrook director of programs Bobby Conway, Scott and Speicher up there to cheer her on. "It's a little different than just playing a round of golf. You have to improve on each shot. Your drives, they only count one of the two. You just have to make sure that you get both of them in the grid and it's by distance. Chipping is just getting it close, and putting is getting it close and trying to make it as much as possible."

The road for Rodino started well before even Zink saw her that day when she was 5. Peter said she always had good hand-eye coordination. She was hitting golf balls as soon as she could walk.

Fort Myers' Talia Rodino as a toddler. On Sunday, Rodino will be playing in the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga.(Photo: Submitted)

But everything started to take off when Zink and fellow pro Josh Musselman took her under their wings. Zink and Musselman made her first two sets of clubs. After that first day, Zink told Peter and Deanna to bring Talia every Saturday for a lesson. No charge.

"Never charged them a dime," Zink said. "It was a pleasure. It was an honor on my part."

A young Talia Rodino, left, with Nancy Sutton, who played with her and also took photos and videos of Rodino's lessons with Warren Zink.(Photo: Courtesy of Nancy Sutton)

Zink remembered before their first lesson, Peter had a little talk with Talia, telling her to make sure she respected Zink and listen to him because he was giving up his time, which was something valuable. Zink said he appreciated Peter saying that, but then looked at Talia after they were alone and said "Let's have some fun."

Nancy Sutton started out as doing video and photos for some of Zink's lessons, but she started taking lessons herself, and then her connection with Rodino and her parents grew as well.

"We were like our own little family," Sutton said.

A drawing by Fort Myers' Talia Rodino when she was a youngster and just starting to take lessons from instructor Warren Zink that she gave to Zink and he still has, is shown on Saturday. Rodino will play in the Drive, Chip and Putt Finals at Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday.(Photo: Submitted)

Zink also set up team scrambles with himself and "Little T" as he called Rodino, Sutton and another pro, Joe Diego, once or twice a week at Eagle Ridge Golf Club in Fort Myers.

Zink, who is 65 and lives in Naples, hasn't done golf instruction in years, but he still has those he's helped, and Rodino tops the list.

"That little girl was just the joy of my life," said Zink, who still has a picture of 5-year-old Talia on his desk and her first putter, one with a pink grip. "Students come and go, but this is the one out of the million.This is the one that says, that's why I did it.